This invention relates generally to a system and method for communicating by telephone using a conventional television receiver, and more particularly relates to a system and method for remotely initiating the automatic dialing of a predetermined number in placing a telephone call by means of a conventional television receiver.
The conventional telephone has been integrated, sometimes out of convenience and sometimes out of necessity, with various other systems to provide a more versatile communications device. For example, the telephone has been integrated with a highly sensitive microphone in combination with a loudspeaker. The high sensitivity microphone is capable of picking up audio signals in the vicinity of the telephone while the loudspeaker amplifies the incoming audio signals to permit remote audio communications via the telephone. These systems are generally referred to as "speaker" telephone systems.
The conventional telephone has also been integrated with a video display to form a video telephone capable of transmitting audio and video information between parties. These systems add considerable complexity to the conventional telephone link in that they require two high quality, wide band video transmission networks including two dedicated video cameras. The additional complexity and expense inherent in these systems has severely limited their widespread adoption and acceptance.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 243,010, filed Mar. 12, 1981, referred to above, discloses a television receiver incorporating telephone interface circuitry permitting the viewer to not only answer incoming calls but also place outgoing calls by means of the television receiver's remote control system. A tuner-integrated microcomputer is used to drive a character generator in presenting the telephone number dialed on the television receiver's video display and to provide the touch tone dialed telephone number to a standard telephone line. A limited automatic re-dial feature is provided in that the last phone number dialed is temporarily stored in the microcomputer's memory and recalled therefrom by means of a single button selection for re-dialing the immediately preceding dialed number which was busy or went unanswered.
The desirability of providing rapid access to a plurality of called locations at the other end of the telephone line is, of course, obvious. This feature not only makes telephone usage more convenient, but also may become a necessity in times of stress such as in placing an emergency call to a physician, the police department or the fire department. In addition, a speed call capability is highly desirable for facilitating telephone usage by the handicapped. Finally, this type of feature would also be very useful in initiating calls to a frequently used number, such as that of a business, relative, or friend. Such systems ideally should permit the user to initiate the automatic dialing of a selected number by means of a simple and reliable procedure. The user should also be able to easily program or store such numbers simply and economically with a minimum of difficulty.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,845 to Feinberg et al., discloses a repertory dialer having first and second control means for respectively storing in a memory a plurality of digits indicative of a telephone number and for selectively recalling these digits from memory and providing them to a conventional telephone line. The single key operation in recalling a desired telephone number from memory provides a speed dialing capability in the system. U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,200 to Hestad et al., discloses a telephone repertory dial system including a signal processor and memory which obtains power under normal conditions from the telephone line or from batteries when the telephone is unplugged from the line. Isolation circuitry is included in the system for avoiding the loss from the volatile memory of the telephone numbers stored therein and power is provided to the unit in both the "on-hook" and "off-hook" conditions. U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,102 to Stanley et al., discloses an automatic telephone dialing system capable of reading a telephone number encoded on a business card or a credit card, storing the number in memory, and generating telephone output dialing pulses in accordance with the stored memory contents. In addition, a keyboard is also provided together with an associated memory, permitting two telephone numbers, one entered into the device via an encoded card and the other entered into the device via the keyboard, to be stored within the unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,298,775 to Buck et al., relates to a telephone set for use in a telephone network with a switch gear connected to incoming telephone lines and to a plurality of individual telephone stations to establish communication between selected stations and/or incoming telephone lines. The switch gear includes a memory and the capability of receiving command signals from the telephone set, transmitting confirmation signals to a set, and performing selected functions in response to the command signals. A programmable microprocessor is included for automatically scanning the switches, detecting an actuated switch and generating a command signal corresponding to the selected function.
Although the above discussed telephone dialing systems facilitate user dialing of selected telephone numbers, these systems suffer from various limitations. For example, none offers a memory capable of retaining its contents when disconnected from the power source without the assistance of batteries. Also, none of the above discussed systems provides the user with information regarding the contents of each memory location. This information could be provided by means of a list located on or adjacent to the telephone unit, but such lists may become displaced or require frequent change as the memory is updated to accommodate new frequently dialed numbers.